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Newbie Question

3

325

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Aug 7, 2005
9
0
Hi,
I've been a Windows user all my life, and I am planning to become a mac user (12" ibook for school). It is a pretty nervous decision for me since i've never used or played with one for more than 15mins!! Anyway, I have some questions that i wanna ask before buying.

I use MSN to communicate with my friends from overseas a lot and we would often use the webcam feature to chat. I know that the mac version of MSN doesn't support video conversation, is there any other alternative? What about iChat? Do both parties have to have iChat in order for it to work?

Although I don't have to write a lot of essays for school, I think MS office is still a very handy tool. My question is where did some of you get your MS office for Mac for 20 dollars?? I can't find it anywhere (I am from Toronto).

Thanks in advance.
This is a very great forum for ppl who aren't familiar with Mac.
 
325 said:
Although I don't have to write a lot of essays for school, I think MS office is still a very handy tool. My question is where did some of you get your MS office for Mac for 20 dollars?? I can't find it anywhere (I am from Toronto).
Click to expand...

It was probably some rebate offer. Otherwise it sounds a bit dodgy... I think the student/teacher verion of Office is a very reasonable price though - $100 anyone?
 
dops7107 said:
It was probably some rebate offer. Otherwise it sounds a bit dodgy... I think the student/teacher verion of Office is a very reasonable price though - $100 anyone?
Click to expand...

Usually, if people posted they got it *legally* for $20, it is an extension of the site-license at their institution to cover home use...this has been a bonus software companies like MS have been throwing at schools and companies more and more recently. But it's very inconsistent. My current university doesn't have it, for instance, despite being a very large institution. And my previous one did, but not at nearly as low a rate as some other schools.
 
mkrishnan said:
Usually, if people posted they got it *legally* for $20, it is an extension of the site-license at their institution to cover home use...this has been a bonus software companies like MS have been throwing at schools and companies more and more recently. But it's very inconsistent. My current university doesn't have it, for instance, despite being a very large institution. And my previous one did, but not at nearly as low a rate as some other schools.
Click to expand...

My university extends the license for home use to students and faculty for 10$ per DVD (mostly to cover the cost of media, I am told).
 
325 said:
Hi,
I've been a Windows user all my life, and I am planning to become a mac user (12" ibook for school). It is a pretty nervous decision for me since i've never used or played with one for more than 15mins!! Anyway, I have some questions that i wanna ask before buying.

Although I don't have to write a lot of essays for school, I think MS office is still a very handy tool. My question is where did some of you get your MS office for Mac for 20 dollars?? I can't find it anywhere (I am from Toronto).

Thanks in advance.
This is a very great forum for ppl who aren't familiar with Mac.
Click to expand...
I have the 12" iBook as well. You will love it.

MS Office for the mac is great. I picked mine up at the Apple Store, Yorkdale Mall, Toronto. It is $199 it think with edu discount. Well worth it, as I need Word, etc for work related documents. Buy it there.....the $20 thing is not likely a legit deal....
 
VanMac said:
I have the 12" iBook as well. You will love it.

MS Office for the mac is great. I picked mine up at the Apple Store, Yorkdale Mall, Toronto. It is $199 it think with edu discount. Well worth it, as I need Word, etc for work related documents. Buy it there.....the $20 thing is not likely a legit deal....
Click to expand...

While I didn't get it for $20, I got Office Professional (which includes Virtual PC) for $61, and it was most certainly legit. I bought it through my school's office of software licensing. Not all schools have it at the same price, it depends on the deal they have worked out with Microsoft. Some schools only have it at the standard $149 EDU price.
 
I attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for a year and got Office 10 for Mac through the campus-wide liscensing for under $13. Search for "Office 10" on this page. Unfortunatly you have to buy it at the campus store.
 
Thanks for everyone's input!!

CanadaRAM said:
For future questions: You'll get more rapid and better quality response if you make the title meaningful. "What messenger software is compatible on Macs" for example, rather than out 749th "Newbie Question" or "Help!"

;)
Click to expand...

and thank u CanadaRAM for the tip!
 
You should give OpenOffice a try (the Mac version is called NeoOffice). It's open, free, and a very good piece of software. And if you don't like it, you can always go buy Office... but I don't think you will :).

You can download it from here
 
mkrishnan said:
Usually, if people posted they got it *legally* for $20, it is an extension of the site-license at their institution to cover home use...this has been a bonus software companies like MS have been throwing at schools and companies more and more recently. But it's very inconsistent. My current university doesn't have it, for instance, despite being a very large institution. And my previous one did, but not at nearly as low a rate as some other schools.
Click to expand...

My current University has a deal with MS where most of their software is available for less than $50. The caveat being that when you graduate there is a form to fill out in order to get full ownership but it's a small inconvenience. Of course you are limited to only one copy of each title but that's one copy I don't have to pay full retail for.
 
mkrishnan said:
iChat supports webcam with any AIM client. You might also check out Mercury, which seems to now have 2-way videoconferencing at the beta level.
Click to expand...

I thought iChat only gave you voice/video chat if you were talking to other iChat, Mac users.
 
Verto said:
I thought iChat only gave you voice/video chat if you were talking to other iChat, Mac users.
Click to expand...

I should backtrack on that... I'm assuming the OP is using the version of iChat from Panther or Tiger... for the oldest versions of iChat AV, what you're saying is correct, but it is not correct for the current version, or the latest Panther version.
 
mkrishnan said:
I should backtrack on that... I'm assuming the OP is using the version of iChat from Panther or Tiger... for the oldest versions of iChat AV, what you're saying is correct, but it is not correct for the current version, or the latest Panther version.
Click to expand...

Hm. I'm using Tiger and iChat 3, and I can't initiate voice or video with PC AIM users.
:confused:
 
Verto said:
Hm. I'm using Tiger and iChat 3, and I can't initiate voice or video with PC AIM users.
:confused:
Click to expand...

Do you both have the appropriate ports open on all of your firewalls? I know iChat can default back to standard ports if the AIM-specific ports are closed, but I'm not sure if AIM can do that.
 
mkrishnan said:
Do you both have the appropriate ports open on all of your firewalls? I know iChat can default back to standard ports if the AIM-specific ports are closed, but I'm not sure if AIM can do that.
Click to expand...

I went to my router's Support and got instructions for opening ports on the OS X firewall, which isn't running, as well as for the router itself. Is there something I need to change in iChat itself? If so, instructions eagerly anticipated!
:p
 
My University offers Office X for $10. They also have Windows xp pro for $15 and office xp pro for $10. Like stated earlier I think it is an extension of their licsense that allows for home use.
 
lfielder06 said:
My University offers Office X for $10. They also have Windows xp pro for $15 and office xp pro for $10. Like stated earlier I think it is an extension of their licsense that allows for home use.
Click to expand...

So what happens when you stop being a student? Does the license expire or is it something you can keep? Cause if it is, that's awesome, we pay the full academic price for all the three year old Mac software our bookshop stocks.
 
Chundles said:
So what happens when you stop being a student? Does the license expire or is it something you can keep? Cause if it is, that's awesome, we pay the full academic price for all the three year old Mac software our bookshop stocks.
Click to expand...
You can keep it... but you can not then purchase an 'upgrade' version to upgrade when the next, newer version comes out-- to use an 'upgrade' you need a standard license or a pro license. Sorry if that didn't make sense.
 
You may also not be able to use it for commerical purposes, as with most educational licenses.
 
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